We all know that NFL teams should draft the best available player when they are on the clock. But how you define that term is very much open to interpretation. Is it the guy with the best measurables, the biggest, fastest, strongest? How much does character count? Should you factor in if you think you can get a player nearly as good later in the draft? Should your team’s needs factor into you evaluation of the best available?

Sometimes, teams overthink things. The quandary of what constitutes being best available can often be solved by answering a simple question:

Which player would I most regret passing over three years from now?

For the Redskins, that player could be guard Xavier Su’a-Filo of UCLA.

Yes, we know that the Redskins don’t draft guards that high. They did take Josh LeRibeus in the third round in 2012. Before that, the last time they drafted a guard at all was in 2008 when they took Chad Rinehart in the third round. They haven’t taken a guard in the second round since 1994 when they took Tre Johnson with the 31st overall pick (that was a second-round pick back then).

Johnson was the only guard they have ever drafted as high as the second round. Mark May, who played tackle at Pitt and played both guard and tackle for the Redskins, was a first-round pick. But Johnson is the only pure guard the team has ever taken before the third round. And we’re not just talking about post merger, we’re going back to 1936 here.

“Let's see what you want in an offensive lineman. Size? Check. Athleticism? Check. Reliable character? Double check. Draft him, suit him, play him. Take credit for making an easy decision.”

Some team is going to take Su’a-Filo right around the 34th pick and will likely never regret it. He might not be a home run but Bruce Allen could probably do a lot worse with his initial draft pick after taking control of the Redskins’ draft.

We’ll see what happens but Allen might best be advised not to overthink this one.

Scandrick, 31, has played for the Cowboys since they made him a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft. In nine seasons in the league, Scandrick has eight interceptions and seven forced fumbles.

He has been plagued by injuries the last three years. Scandrick was out for the entire 2015 season with a torn ACL. In 2016 he missed four games with a hamstring injury and he finished last season on injured reserve with a back injury. Whether his struggles last year were due to injuries or age remains to be seen.

Scandrick joins Nosh Norman, Quinton Dunbar, Fabian Moreau, and Josh Holsey at cornerback for the Redskins. Holsey is the only natural slot corner in the group and he played very sparingly as a rookie last year. Scandrick likely will fill the slot role until Holsey is ready.

We will see what the signing costs in terms of salary cap impact when we see the details of the contract. The phrase “up to” generally means that there are incentives included in the deal so we will have to see.

In recent years, the Redskins have signed former Cowboys defensive linemen Stephen Bowen, Jason Hatcher, and Terrell McClain.

When the Redskins traded for Alex Smith on January 30, news also broke that he had agreed to a four-year extension with Washington in addition to the one year left on his contract with the Chiefs. While we got some top-line numbers on the deal, we have gone since then without any details.

Until now.

The details show a deal that has a slightly higher cap hit in 2018 than was on his original Chiefs contract and the numbers rise gradually over the life of the deal, which runs through 2022. The top line numbers are five years, $111 million, an average annual value of $22.2 million per year.

Smith got a $27 million signing bonus and his salaries for 2018 ($13 million) and 2019 ($15 million) also are fully guaranteed at signing making the total $55 million (information via Over the Cap, which got data from a report by Albert Breer).

But there is another $16 million that is guaranteed for all practical purposes. On the fifth day of the 2019 league year, his 2020 salary of $16 million becomes fully guaranteed. He almost assuredly will get to the point where that money will become guaranteed since the Redskins are not going to cut him after one year having invested $55 million in him. So the total guarantees come to $71 million.

His 2021 salary is $19 million and it goes up to $21 million in 2022. There have been reports of some incentives available to Smith, but since we have no details, we’ll set those aside for now.

The Redskins can realistically move on from Smith after 2020. There would be net cap savings of $13 million in 2021 and $21 million in 2022.

The first impression of the deal is that the Redskins did not move on from Kirk Cousins because they didn’t want to guarantee a lot of money to a quarterback. The total practical guarantee of $71 million is second only to Cousins’ $82.5 million. It should be noted that Cousins’ deal runs for three years and Smith’s contract is for five.